VICDOC Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 78
VA P I N G R E FO RM S
T
he popularity of vaping among young
people continues to surge while big
tobacco companies rub their hands together
with glee. These predatory companies have
shown a complete disregard of public health
interests by orchestrating an insidious
campaign to make massive profits off a
new generation of nicotine users.
Australia has been waging a protracted,
but ultimately successful, battle to reduce the
rates of cigarette smoking, but now vaping is
threatening to undo some of that good work.
Since the rise of vaping, we have seen –
for the first time in 25 years – an increase
in smoking rates, with a three-fold increase
in smoking by 14-17-year-olds in just
four years.
Thankfully, significant vaping reforms
are moving quickly as a result of federal
AMA advocacy and tireless stakeholder
collaboration. Reliable evidence in this space
continues to grow, finding that vapes cause
harm and are not safe or effective smoking
cessation tools.
Vaping is the new smoking. In early
2023, 8.9% of Australians aged 14 and
over were current vapers and 11.8% were
current smokers. While exclusive smoking
was trending downwards in the year with a
stable prevalence over time, exclusive vaping
and the dual use of smoking and vaping
was trending upwards, particularly in people
aged under 35. These trends align with the
evidence that vaping triples the likelihood
of taking up conventional smoking,
making it a gateway to smoking.
Known acute health effects of e-cigarettes
include seizures, nicotine poisoning and
associated brain development issues for
younger people, E-cigarette or Vaping
Associated Lung Injury, burns, cough,
dizziness and nausea. As this is a relatively
new product, long-term effects are not
yet known.
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ADVO CACY
The National Health and Medical
Research Council reports there are more
than 200 unique chemicals in vapes, some
of which are also used in nail polish
remover, weed killer and insecticide.
Some are known carcinogens and can
damage DNA. We are seeing an increase
in vape-related calls to the Australian
Poisons Information Centre, most of
which were about kids.
Strong vaping regulation in Australia
has been muddied by the tobacco
and vaping industry, which spreads
misinformation and intentionally markets
products towards children and younger
people. Vapes come in a wide variety of
flavours, such as different fruits, lollies
and desserts. Vape packaging is bright and
colourful and can even resemble popular
juice boxes or lollies. These companies
claim their products are therapeutic and
made to help people quit smoking.
Yet none have registered their products
on the Australian Register of Therapeutic
Goods, which would allow proper
evaluation of safety and efficacy, and
would not have required the complicated
reforms we are working through now.
These companies are still allowed
to donate to political parties, clearly
compromising government policy on
public health matters. In October, I spoke
about this issue and the Federal AMA’s
concerns about vaping advertisements and
sales at the Senate Community Affairs
References Committee hearing into
the Public Health (Tobacco and Other
Products) Bill 2023. This Bill includes
important tobacco control reforms and
prohibits vaping advertisements in line
with cigarette restrictions. However, it
is disappointing to see the Bill does not
prohibit political donations.